Religious change, conflict and/or intolerance

News items during 2007-August

Events:

2007-AUG-02: Egypt: Convert from Islam to Christianity seeks
legal change: Mohammed Ahmed Higazi converted from Islam to
Coptic Christianity at the age of 16. He is now 25, and his wife is pregnant. He
wants to have his religion officially on his identity card changed so that his
son would be born Christian. He would have attempted to change his records
earlier except that there were many hurdles preventing the action. This is
believed to be the first such case in Egypt. He is represented by the Kalima
Center, a Coptic rights group.

Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, who is
Egypt's top Muslim religious advisor, reaffirmed that Muslims can choose to
change their own religion, although apostasy would still amount to a "grave
sin." from the Muslim perspective.

A second case involving 12 former
Christians who converted to Islam and are now trying
to revert to Christianity will be heard by Egypt's supreme administrative
court in September. 1

2007-AUG-09: Greece: Protest against the
persecution of Falun Gong: The
Global Human Rights Torch Relay was launched at Syntagma Square, in
front of the Hellenic Parliament buildings in Athens, Greece.
Representatives of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun
Gong (CIPFG) from four delegations in Europe, Asia, North America and
Australasia and other supporters from various organizations were present to
observe the launch at the birthplace of the Olympic movement. During the
next 12 months, the torch will travel through 100 cities around the world.
According to CIPFG:

"Its purpose is to call on the
international community to focus on brutal violations of human
rights and the Olympics spirit by the Chinese Communist regime, in
order to stop such crimes and not let the 2008 Olympic Games that
symbolizes peace and freedom of humanity become the 'Bloody Harvest
Games'."

2007-AUG-10: TX: Child dragged behind vehicle at Christian boot camp:
The director and one employee of Love Demonstrated Ministries -- a
conservative Christian 32 day boot camp -- were arrested and charged with
aggravated assault for allegedly tying a 15-year-old girl to a van with a
rope. She allegedly fell repeatedly while trying to keep up to the vehicle
and was dragged. She was allegedly being punished for falling behind during
a run. A cook at the camp reported the abuse and was fired.

TV station KRIS reported that parents of children at the boot camp had to
sign a release stating:

"I realize that Christian boot camp is a strenuous and highly intense
program. I further realize that the possibility of accident, injury or
even fatality to my child does exist."

District Attorney Carlos Valdez said:

"I just couldn't believe that anybody would sign something like
this... Your child may be killed at this boot camp, and the parent signs
it anyway." 5

2007-AUG-22: TX: Texas executes 400th
person since 1982: Johnny Ray Connor was executed for the murder of
a grocery clerk during a failed robbery in 1998. He was the 400th person
to be executed by the state since Texas resumed capital punishment in
1982. About 17 opponents of the death penalty gathered in Houston to
protest the execution. Hooman Hedayati, of Texas Students Against the
Death Penalty said: "It's the 400th execution in Texas. That's
really important because it shows how Texas executes people. It needs to
stop. It's a barbaric practice." 3

2007-AUG-20: Tibet: Chinese occupation
forbids Buddhist monks from reincarnating: Newsweek
describes this as "one of history's more absurd acts of
totalitarianism." Chin has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from
reincarnating without government permission. The new law goes into
effect in October. The State Administration for Religious
Affairs describes the new regulation as "an important move to
institutionalize management of reincarnation." Paul Harrison, a Buddhism
scholar at Stanford University said:

"It will be a very hot issue. The Dalai Lama has been the prime
symbol of unity and national identity in Tibet, and so it's quite likely
the battle for his incarnation will be a lot more important than the
others." 4

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References used:

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essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.